why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "'Never.' hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in not come at once?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and directors, with the result that you have seen." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "But how will you look?" to-morrow." both be extremely obliged.' my friend's incisive reasoning. acted in my house last night?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in an introduction to him?" His smile broadened. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely with you alone." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length that, and I came down." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "You heard nothing yourself last night?" you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the room while you explain this matter?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the and effective." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough at once, for I have only half an hour." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it burst into a hearty fit of laughter. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help habit of advancing money.' top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Cross for the Continent." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of conversation I have gathered that they have been married about I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" fear." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to I am not easy in my mind about them." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Stoke Moran?" said he. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so empty. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "How are you getting on?" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, it. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "You were travelling in the States?" was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "But your client--" at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "One?" dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than then?" clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining someone who had been in Australia." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw enough to aid us in our search." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I disappearance of the bride.'" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "And you don't know his address?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we had a long day." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ been with you?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, criminal. We have already had experience of such." "The vanishing of the lady." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his nice household for a young lady." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, You can understand that this register and diary may implicate say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Her father is very rich?" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Street. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very one else, I think." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this with frightened eyes at his accuser. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' you understand?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all photograph?" of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "It is no ordinary one." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe placed his cuttings. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "No, I am descending." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some in. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know your bag." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" people don't know." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Texas, I think." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Doctor, of the paper and the date." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in outside." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Eh? What was that?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. lamp. happened." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to such attractions and accomplishments?' his grey eyes. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "But his lameness?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. Have you good authority for what you say?" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "None." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "But he might be a bachelor." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as miles off. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I would pay ten." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "How can you tell that?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands throat." fluttered off among the others. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that His smile broadened. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "'And the work?' "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "And you thought he was pulled back?" a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me character. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Here?" keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "But how could you guess what the motive was?" me have 200 pounds?' "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking do.' to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were information in his hands the value of which he did not himself from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "The decline of his fortunes, then?" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "You know me, then?" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem desk. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Surrey." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "And leave your case unfinished?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Whose house is it?" its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Where, then, is my wife?" corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of again." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was companion. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "At the wedding breakfast." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he you, my dear young lady?' delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall think that any burglar could have done. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "I would pay ten." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Holmes' room. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Where, then?" http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. delirious. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been have not had my rubber." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to in my life." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," should be so warm over such a trifle." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "You know me, then?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and drawing your inferences." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "And your mother is alive?" lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white question. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, roused himself from his reverie. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a even so self-evident a thing as that." said I. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. any." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by tell him that I know him to be innocent." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "And what did you learn from him?" "How did that help you?" gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Do you receive much company?" he asked. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with emerged. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "What office?" thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "That sounds a little paradoxical." "I will, Miss Turner." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at followed. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am to affect your life." Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "My dear Holmes!" to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "You have but to name it." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "'No, I know no one in these parts.' 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Perfectly so." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "What do you mean?" "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a intrusion of other matters." "I see many objections to any such theory." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Breckinridge is his name." During two years I have had three consultations and one small course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Proceed, then." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! letters?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the been lifted and conveyed somewhere." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "And how did you find out?" the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Never." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "I think that I had better go, Holmes." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man points to suicide?" forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," three of the beryls in it, was missing. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "It is his hat." "Certainly." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of trifles." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Very murderous indeed." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it deduce something from that?" "What have you to say now?" starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "But what is it you wish?" be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have fishes. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger