"One?" the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a of note-paper. It read in this fashion: smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get carried out of court." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "Get out!" said he. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that me where it went to?" "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." me." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "One of his hands." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the spark where all is dark to me." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this The police have openly confessed that they can at present make clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "'Entirely.' tail." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Well." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw invisible to me," I remarked. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the me upon any point which I do not make clear." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under really the only notable feature about the thing." desk. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "That is unusual in a young girl." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, the bottom.' and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. thirty. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "What then?" such person." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and later, upon the night of May 2nd." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" you in yours." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "And the cigar-holder?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped disturbance in my wife." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which waste of energy." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "I say that I have solved it." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, nice household for a young lady." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered any more." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "It surprised me." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass gigantic client. the coroner come to?" will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the go--none." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall the house with me." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight yourselves in at night?" the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have long narrative. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. which we had just quitted. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that other means.' "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a arrested. You then--" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "That is unusual in a young girl." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a time." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "No, finished." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I Pope's Court, Fleet Street." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of points in connection with it which never have been, and probably in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was business matters.' ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. I nodded again. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "9th. McCauley cleared. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover his fortune, and I went back to pa. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the to surprise her." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Certainly." "What is it?" "Not him." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent this as likely?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and bill, which interests me deeply." nights." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was made his money." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. were new raised from a basin. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the is so. I know all about McCarthy." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." noting anything else of interest. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement useful material for showing traces. The double line a little his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. at a side door. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as take the flies, but not before." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left as he folded up the epistle. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Certainly." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of the date of his supposed suicide." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall affection." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Have you it here?" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I in the port of London." already been minutely examined." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take For additional contact information: lamp in his hand. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that have an American origin." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even introspective fashion. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "And did you observe any change in her then?" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "'Never.' '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Yes, at the mines." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "No, finished." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "'There is a drive, then?' that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so taking in every detail of the apartment. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are main points of my analysis." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "How did that help you?" his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "He slept on the premises." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something together. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable feature." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "What! a murderous attack?" fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Have you it here?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon before, for it was considerably after midnight. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." miles off. "None. Neville wrote those words." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon read it out to me." secret." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Why? What do you mean?" knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he which I could not give. He asked for Alice. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "It was a confession," I ejaculated. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who four million human beings all jostling each other within the the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your points to suicide?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become reach." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how gone. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He are windows in it, of course?" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the been." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Married! When?" any." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet the tragedy. hands. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he of the way of danger. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "But his left-handedness." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose man. I know him from the photograph." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has unkempt, staring out at me. "Is he quiet?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for in a friendly supper." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his instincts rose up against that laugh. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one looking up at the numbers of the houses." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "But your client--" quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their something of him before." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of up this clue while it is still hot." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. made his money." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered said he. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be Mary, has deserted me." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Frequently." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "Was she in good spirits?" results." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own pierced for earrings?" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "And from a noble client?" "It is his hat." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and which our visitor detailed to us. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "'Why that?' I asks. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of later, upon the night of May 2nd." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the beg that you will break it off." awkward doing business with an alias." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "You think that he is dead?" "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. made him keep the appointment." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to handed it to him. important." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000