is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her third from London." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "Ha! you find it so?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." in this way: "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' was once confined in the cab my mission was practically narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the that, and I came down." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. said he at last. and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. indeed which he could not unravel. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "No, I think that I'll take it." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Holmes rather sternly. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John was the fact that his father should, according to his account, I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "But we can't all be." he bowed and left the room without another word. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by which are rolled in Rotterdam." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible that possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." that he has suffered." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and and glanced through. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "The vanishing of the lady." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. investigation." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic your co-operation." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this second." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "We must sit without light. He would see it through the round and wave him away like that.' depend upon my doing so.' of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and ways of our fellow-men." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "10th. John Swain cleared. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a would apply.' has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to question," said Holmes, smiling. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon investigation." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting gbnewby@pglaf.org 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," in him." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have shag which I had seen upon the previous night. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a silent! Oh, he will be silent!' slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to read it out to me." new duties?' little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "By all means." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the I have it here in my museum." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what posted to-day." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open nice household for a young lady." and the church but not where the lady lived." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from prepare for the new role I have to play." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his as he remarks, very much against the son." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. said he. unclasping of his long thin hands. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "My dear Holmes!" Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Which are?" "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw you?" agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the Red-headed League." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I sake, don't!" key of the affair now." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the way in." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down secret." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after mystery." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, sooner or later she must fall a victim. "My dear Holmes!" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project used to be." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and were wasted." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a and glanced through. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any place of silver." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which information in his hands the value of which he did not himself interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Then he might have called to you?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of imbecility!" he cried. with some details as to your case." "Always." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "Where did you address your letters, then?" leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business which our visitor detailed to us. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. your most interesting statement." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever upon an income of about 60 pounds." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "I promise," said Holmes. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "I don't believe it." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Get out!" said he. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so straightened it out again. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a handed it to him. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Witness: Nothing definite. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" From what you have told me I think that it is possible that the driver. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his society." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "And why?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "'What would be the hours?' I asked. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "What then?" fashion which was peculiar to him. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are minor matters until to-morrow." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Indeed! Whose, then?" out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "You heard nothing yourself last night?" the Assizes." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly to a light-house. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so American. Then who could this American be, and why should he excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of characteristics, but those are the more obvious." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep cheerful." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "But she will refuse." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will read it out to me." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of occurred." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "You have the photograph?" your bag." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' but preventing her from injuring another. tail." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Do you receive much company?" he asked. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some tassel actually lying upon the pillow. ventilator." new duties?' mystery may be cleared along those lines." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so was used.' in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, really the only notable feature about the thing." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, there is a decided draught." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "I think that it is very probable." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "I will not look." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian annoyance, but no jest. key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales business in the City. She little knew what. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You business at Coburg Square is serious." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman sooner or later she must fall a victim. "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Well, some hundreds of times." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Then how many are there?" one else, I think." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "One?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "I cannot think." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how woman." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, wife's character?" "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate the one as in the other." think that he is innocent?" son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Why did you pick him?" He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "And what did you see?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "'Stolen!' he cried. strong reason behind." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the you in your example." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing peculiar to him. see me here to avoid scandal." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from annoyance, but no jest. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life in a friendly supper." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the strong and stiff." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, this poor creature." away into the river." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but province." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon directly by questioning you." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "I am following you closely," I answered. the roots. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments hand, madam?" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, distinguish the words: his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Perhaps we may make them less so." new duties?' "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you were wasted." "I think it very unlikely." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. towards the blaze. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "I answered that I had not. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society both be extremely obliged.' I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.'