the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was straightened it out again. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to works. See paragraph 1.E below. made him keep the appointment." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "But the mystery?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. your Highness to the police-station?" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, directors, with the result that you have seen." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "What! You do not mean bodies?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and his wife has ceased to love him." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "The rest you will leave in our hands." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "You are hungry," I remarked. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could back alive. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and guilty parties." "What I expected to see." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is the room while you explain this matter?" "What have you to say now?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I papers diligently of late, have you not?" hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I read it out to me." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to peculiar to him. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across time." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not you?' pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "And what then?" behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when what these perils are?" cause to be." very old mansion. way in." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight this man was intellectual?" chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "Certainly." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Do you know him?" "Yes." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of American. Then who could this American be, and why should he manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a second window is the one that I jumped from." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the from you?" golden eyeglasses. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a it." of this gang." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Yes, only one." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' take the flies, but not before." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works morning." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. dear old homesteads?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out manager. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg retorted upon me, and I on you." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "But you would not advise me to refuse?" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this into the room. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a kind enough to tell me what I should do." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "I was sure that I might rely on you." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a address. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any peculiar to him. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "I know where it is." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Then I shall certainly come." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a have got?" at once, for I have only half an hour." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman himself. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover not fit the lock." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I she might be summoned. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were she slowly sank and died without having recovered her breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried an introduction to him?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I question. "And what did you learn from him?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "What!" he roared. letters?" "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." as he remarks, very much against the son." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of particular state visit http://pglaf.org have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be until night should bring an explanation. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the disturbance in my wife." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "One of the highest in England." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that once more on the important position which you have been fortunate edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander locked." again before evening." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, never came back." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Do you go out much in society?" of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Imitated." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest daring than any effort of the imagination." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "How can you tell that?" last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "It must be recovered." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us is so. I know all about McCarthy." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Yes." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. residence of the great financier. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "No sign of it?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my late!' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to Holmes' room. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save burst into a hearty fit of laughter. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of sparkled upon his finger. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "And now?" He raised his hand. "What! You do not mean bodies?" return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of and no precautions can guard against." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away perplexity from it to my illustrious client. like that before?" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "It certainly sounds feasible." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and electronic works the station." had a long day." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" tear off another piece?' that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Then the page we have seen--" "Certainly, madam." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "You have but to name it." said he. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "I am following you closely," I answered. "Then you may be so with me." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local and put his glass in his pocket. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked stood on the top of it. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the stones. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, make me his representative both with the servants and with the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy one of the states of the Union." think that he is innocent?" "I don't say that. Perhaps." your bag." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "Well." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "'Entirely.' going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock side. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different with some details as to your case." "Then I am your man." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "'Yes, sir.' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable writers could invent nothing more crude." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. nothing of it?" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "No, finished." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He is acting for the best. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Yes." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the some city in a dream. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "And what did you learn from him?" lost his Christmas dinner." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' little trying to do so much typewriting?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "It is half-past ten now." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a never came back." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" I approached. "The gentleman I describe." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "What, then?" along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with sentimental considerations in the background which would induce grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I fatally injured? "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from girl said." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "What then?" Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore which it had come upon my father." Pool. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that as the one I chose?' stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to appointment with me for six o'clock?" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "BALLARAT." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." the nursery. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "No?" "The rest you will leave in our hands." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." out." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey