- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free for its centre. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the here and I will read it to you: for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Witness: It was. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his should be taken.' did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "Were they all fastened this morning?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just of it with the greatest attention. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, horse could go." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "Where to?" "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the best of training." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "My own seal." Miss Holder?" deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have public press." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your kindly on the shoulder. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. invisible to me," I remarked. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Yes." "How did he come?" at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "I cannot as yet see any connection." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Doctor, of the paper and the date." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my row." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable This is what he says: "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and at a side door. coroner's jury." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes companion. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "'Yes.' before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower society." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of words came to my lips. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Stoke Moran?" said he. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler coroner's jury." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Did you observe the colour?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in at my own good fortune. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal he. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the man. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "A client, then?" Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, room?" play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two feature." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well and the colonel ushered me in. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon guilty one." His name is Francis Prosper." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, have an American origin." "But it has twice been burgled." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled chill to my heart. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "The gentleman I describe." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We trifles." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "That is easily got." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to or in danger--" above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." are, and they are waiting for us." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly bears upon the case?" be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Then I shall certainly come." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Here?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon seem to you to be relevant or not." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "She walked into the breakfast-room." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian even of instruction." that you can jump it.' for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and upon the shelf for the interim." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." so far?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "But your client--" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have geese which you supplied to the Alpha." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. clanging. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much suspect him." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has the room while you explain this matter?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with cause to be." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Nothing?" indeed happy." it." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I during the last few years, and there are many noble families to out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she weary and pale-looking. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the strength in the others." conduct the inquiry." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought from the brougham. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "None." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "BALLARAT." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "It is half-past ten now." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of in his power. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "I cannot tell." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable disappearance of these gems?" appointment with me for six o'clock?" where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "So I heard. You have him here?" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is made him keep the appointment." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "A client, then?" "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, is acting for the best. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet waste of energy." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a looking up at the numbers of the houses." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Was he the only applicant?" "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed once more to my work. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this heavily into it. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? woman who has had her own way to make in the world. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Perhaps we may make them less so." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the distance from the station, and there we found the young lady valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the trifles." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the threw himself down with his face to the pillow. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." security.' prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to shall not find me ungrateful." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Absolutely none." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Murdered?" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "It came here." walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through to take care of herself." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Oh, yes, easily." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and money should be paid at once.' "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "I should like to see him very much." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Come in!" said Holmes. together. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of his face. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said in his power. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "That also I could fathom." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our most interesting one." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for that he has suffered." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Did you become engaged then?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in to Leatherhead. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Here?" of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you recover the gem." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with details should find their way into the papers. Inspector the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "And how in the world did you find them?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was I. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." these bleak autumnal evenings." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a me upon any point which I do not make clear." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with even so self-evident a thing as that." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin business came to an end." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing man. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester,