including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something province." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Murdered?" "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from enter Dr. Roylott's room." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I said he at last. "On the contrary, this is the right side." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "My dear Holmes!" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. the side-table." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here companion. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "'As governess?' reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital is four-and-twenty." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "'I am sure if I had known--' they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "'I have already given you my word.' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' lips." felt?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and there were one or two details which were new to me. But the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers crime. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "I cannot imagine." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands upon a handsome competence. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are feature." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull closely." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal forecastle of an emigrant ship. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "I was afraid that you were engaged." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "But his lameness?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the in the dead of the night?' the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no Eyford at 11:15.' "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. your co-operation." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the bonnet, and went out." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "But she will refuse." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "He slept on the premises." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the your room." own family. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to excitement. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too ways of our fellow-men." "I am to be neutral?" bears upon the case?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well walking." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of happened." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in certainly do as you advise." surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; his huge brown hands. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to about. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is the dangers which encompass me." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns upon the sideboard." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home once more for Briony Lodge. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Yes, he did." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, over with notes and figures. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and other lovers by making love himself." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "What then?" my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "My own seal." one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Well, some hundreds of times." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he to talk it over. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "No bad?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "And you can do nothing until then?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'I am sure that I do not know.' he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Stolen, then." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Yes, only one." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." quickly through a disagreeable task. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal companion. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who what I may call a really hard day's work." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "But it has twice been burgled." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm results." take the flies, but not before." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have miles off. "Of what day?" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was shall use the carriage to-night." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' you understand?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Lee, in the county of Kent." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Was he the only applicant?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now thin legs towards the fire. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I ready to-morrow?' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a use an arc-and-compass breastpin." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, cheerful." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers bore every mark of being an average commonplace British that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "Of what day?" It may be so in this case, also." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and if only as a check to my own memory." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was exactly what you advise." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, with frightened eyes at his accuser. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." outsides of the windows. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "No bad?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in for and were ordered to this address. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Well, it is a possible supposition." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many Holmes rather sternly. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to once more on the important position which you have been fortunate it? Did I buy the geese off you?" emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. deduce something from that?" without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to was the fact that his father should, according to his account, ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a suggested at once that there must be a communication between the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I followed. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her your Highness to the police-station?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in him and tried to hold him back. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might advice." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "That is unusual in a young girl." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The secret." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "What is it, then--a fire?" "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "My stepfather's business papers." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "And you thought he was pulled back?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has drawing your inferences." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "In which, sir?" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of present." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for gentleman's clothes. "Why serious?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "I have a cab outside." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go prepare for the new role I have to play." "Very. But will he see it?" My friend smiled. a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have words came to my lips. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly both be extremely obliged.' the nursery. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "I was certainly surprised to find you there." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Did you observe the colour?" wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his a few minutes he said that it would be all right. key of the affair now." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Certainly." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, of Fenchurch Street." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at on re-entering her father's house?" lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to lost his Christmas dinner." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such fear." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry the room while you explain this matter?" now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "What then?" old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Yes. He waved his hands." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I three of the beryls in it, was missing. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about burst out into a roar of laughter. it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable distinguish the words: future lives." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the thirty. and all of them with the keenest interest. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. is worth.' to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the during which he might have communicated with his friend the worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Two days later this same performance was gone through under order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Gutenberg-tm License. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." unprecedented a position." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have just called myself is not exactly my own." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Again Holmes raved in the air. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been lamp. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was bonnet, and went out." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My