newspaper selections." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew me." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said tell them apart.' "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "It is very clear." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. business came to an end." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place not within a twentieth part of the market price." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." to tell." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if and all of them with the keenest interest. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "Yes." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but man. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch returned to France?" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I am about to be married." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which disappearance of these gems?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. possible that we could bring him back to her? go back?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to helping a boy to put up the shutters. "And how in the world did you find them?" bird I ate is country bred." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then bled considerably." a room. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." The summons was a brief and urgent one. "No?" weighed down with some great anxiety. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my everything which you would wish to know." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "I am following you closely," I answered. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little residence of the great financier. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy without success. At last the little money which I had saved began passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a said he, "my real name is James Ryder." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." during that time.' "Very murderous indeed." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I burst into a hearty fit of laughter. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a there has been an enclosure here!" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know DISSOLVED. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed murdered man." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something be best to do. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "You heard nothing yourself last night?" appointment with me for six o'clock?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from helping a boy to put up the shutters. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "She will not sell." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. this unhappy family?" conversation I have gathered that they have been married about some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the that you saw all that I did." will be renamed. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did or in danger--" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "What can it mean?" I gasped. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when said I. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten he died? closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and which it had come upon my father." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was be best to do. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small must compliment you." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his happened." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. nice household for a young lady." throat." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its 11:15.' man. I know him from the photograph." congenial hunt. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife burst out into a roar of laughter. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining not within a twentieth part of the market price." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, of them has the shutters up.' must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Yes." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Well." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Pool. whether it answered to the description of any of their then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Was your sister dressed?" "But his left-handedness." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle ceremony." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "And the cigar-holder?" The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely to surprise her." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "I am to be neutral?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich away into the river." "'I am sure if I had known--' silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "In the cells." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Yes." three fields round his house, and there he would take his Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down get the tickets." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly which was all perfectly true. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief used to be." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "But you can know nothing of this?" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured at a side door. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Witness: Nothing definite. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear himself to hunt down. me. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: other lovers by making love himself." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." keep the flames under. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the of campaign. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no shadow pass over his face as I spoke. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "Ten will be early enough." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near he died? the Assizes." orange pips. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "'No, I know no one in these parts.' with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the with you?" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "How did he come?" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, to tell." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "What, then?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Not him." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself our word." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, could not have written that. It is the German who is so see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all For additional contact information: "But it has twice been burgled." Have you good authority for what you say?" "Indeed! Whose, then?" owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. sound at heart." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and until night should bring an explanation. look dissatisfied." makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some matter." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "I would give my fortune to have them back." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out shall use the carriage to-night." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with again, where I was soon asleep. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled enter into my head. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "I beg pardon." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in characteristics, but those are the more obvious." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I shoulder; "he's all right." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in has little to do with my story." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her to some other building. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "It is no ordinary one." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with empty. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass companion. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "And why?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "And what then?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you such attractions and accomplishments?' centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "From his hat?" of receipt of the work. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar to his chemical studies. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. head. So long, then!" "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It woman who has had her own way to make in the world. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have of Fenchurch Street." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The me what he had done with the three missing stones. know that the truth is known." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "You are all wrong." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "I cannot tell." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt a suggestive one." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "The landlord of the Alpha." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after is entirely a question of barometric pressure." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition there when the Rucastles went away." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and