devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy friend's singular character. started for the Temple to see my husband. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Miss Holder?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Watson," he said cordially. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Who was the criminal, then?" union?" have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "I am to be neutral?" the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's said he at last. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "You saw the ventilator, too?" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told of the way of danger. people in all walks of life. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Munro.' bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." more terrible than the truth. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been upon the white wrist. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "To an English lawyer named Norton." meant it for the best. your troubles." "What can it mean?" I gasped. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Who was the criminal, then?" even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying papers must be those that are destroyed.' Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "How can you tell that?" "'Very good.' happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. it." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "Was your sister dressed?" thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "But it has twice been burgled." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "I say that I have solved it." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. suddenly upon us." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss as yours." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "She will not sell." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." read over the extraordinary announcement. "I cannot say that I have." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "I am all attention, madam." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Pope's Court. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his them?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a to Leatherhead. one which it was hard to resist. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple over here." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is face and glided from the room. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are matter." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they to-night." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! your only hope of safety." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Well, but China?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Cross for the Continent." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to never to learn it at all." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it and a shock of very red hair. providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. main points of my analysis." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "And leave your case unfinished?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a when you have done it." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, annoyance, but no jest. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such business." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "We have tried and failed." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the most important business. It is probable that he will be away all thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would power." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past you?" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to was used.' remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. second window is the one that I jumped from." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose to me. "Not social, then?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "10th. John Swain cleared. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over The police have openly confessed that they can at present make stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "That's no good." "'What then?' I asked. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "You don't mind breaking the law?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me that I am arrested." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Did you become engaged then?" "No." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "'As governess?' reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Holmes' face clouded over. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "It looks newer than the other things?" balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up must compliment you." everything which you would wish to know." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Pray do so." "Certainly." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of British peeress.'" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" me what he had done with the three missing stones. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Eyford at 11:15.' bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "How can you tell that?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have 'I should be able to look after that for you.' other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "So I have heard." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out knowledge of the world." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "It is true that I have been generally successful." "I have come for advice." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose you give your casting vote to?" whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "And what then?" 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, up this clue while it is still hot." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. telegram would bring me down to your help." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was the nursery. soul! here is her carriage at the door." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' cigars in the box." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. went to the Alpha were town bred." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you dear old homesteads?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "None." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was before, for it was considerably after midnight. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as nights." intrusion of other matters." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was delirious. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'And what salary do you ask?' lids now and glanced across at his visitor. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, lost his Christmas dinner." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Not him." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have fled together." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. notes," he said. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With made his money." "Yes." "Precisely." the station." "I would give my fortune to have them back." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, she might be summoned. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended meanly of me." "Seven!" I answered. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Yes, certainly." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek the inner apartment." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, it." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an he died? country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being in a very precise fashion." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." been." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was off." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Yes, sir." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "You are hungry," I remarked. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the prisoner's face. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "To an English lawyer named Norton." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "And what then?" knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have place no limit on the sum I may draw." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. tear off another piece?' when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a or other trace. But how on earth--" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the before the coroner and the police-court." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary noise which awoke you from your sleep?" and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for undoubtedly my uncle's." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Not I." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a the bottom.' have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the walking." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes passage and a tap at the door. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "'There is a drive, then?' Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Did you observe the colour?"