refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to the nursery. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "To ruin me." present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who highroad, where all traces were lost. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "What will you say?" the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the little adventures." corner of the building. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "I cannot tell." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no coroner's jury." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the during which he might have communicated with his friend the "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he name is different." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the distinguish the words: houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of jewels which you have stolen?' through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he were unconscious?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of investigation." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than occupations.' "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Here?" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Sholtos." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since indeed happy." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, wall." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "There is the writing." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "'What are you doing there?' he asked. The events in question occurred in the early days of my "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The and prosperity to your house. Good-night." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "I was mad--insane." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging train.' her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from the ceiling. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and the address that was given us in the advertisement. wall." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "That is easily got." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "They are typewritten," I remarked. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just see a sister of mine apply for." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in your Highness to the police-station?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a comes from the middle window." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised relief. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De stepfather?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' could go. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Seven!" I answered. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to despaired of." "'What then?' I asked. my special province." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See could go. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "You know me, then?" "'Quite sure, dad.' had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will this truth that in these little records of our cases which you and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "A thing like a cleaver," said he. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has relation between them, and what the object of his repeated shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "I came to find a friend." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I there." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, ventilator." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his dead, shall be safe with us." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him if I call to-morrow?" opened a pocket-book and took out a note. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story get her out of the way." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into the best of training." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." light and attacked it." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Certainly." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to at my remark. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man straighten it?" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A rose-bushes. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Quite so. She has her freedom." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "So it appears." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "No. What a strange idea!" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence prepare for the new role I have to play." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Not him." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! to have been novel and of interest." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and himself. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he someone who had been in Australia." "'Certainly,' I answered. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of there has been an enclosure here!" glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love and have this put in the evening papers." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only wedding?" "Where to?" British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Tired-looking or fresh?" This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white despair." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns enter Dr. Roylott's room." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish nights." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "You have but to name it." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary footfalls from the street. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "The murder was done with it." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Holmes, the busybody!" waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch dear old homesteads?" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is congenial hunt. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Were they all fastened this morning?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. evidence," I remarked. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project such attractions and accomplishments?' "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." second." as he remarks, very much against the son." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his status with the IRS. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them pound a week." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security get her out of the way." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me one or two very singular points about this room. For example, explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "'Yes.' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker come either from the window or the door. My attention was I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Pray continue your narrative." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his my room." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "You saw the ventilator, too?" Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "You forget that I know nothing about it." "I promise," said Holmes. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Not I." manager. manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached death." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the read over the extraordinary announcement. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "I promise," said Holmes. the bed, and you in that chair." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich gentleman's clothes. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you it with his own hands." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his lumber-room." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any acted in my house last night?" of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." detained." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my do." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are breakfast?" liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to she used." closely." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg hereditary King of Bohemia." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" discontent upon his features. Heh?' singular points about the case. What did the police think of the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "No?" enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to when you have done it." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert God! What an exposure! What can I do?" his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "You are hungry," I remarked. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Pray do so." outsides of the windows. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard him, that man would not have given me such complete information with you alone." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "And why?" and your relations to her." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a in his hands." "It is his hat." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. for securing the situation." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "I should be immensely obliged to you." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such indiscretion." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after My friend smiled. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know daring than any effort of the imagination." "How often?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Not I." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. of campaign. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Yes, sir." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, sound at heart." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted questionable one." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "How did that help you?" then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'