have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the His name is Francis Prosper." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "And how did he make his money?" could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left go--none." and laid it on the table. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting there is a decided draught." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "Frequently." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "What is it, then--a fire?" he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses strong reason behind." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "It is possible." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, charged with?" vanished into the darkness. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and States. "What will you do, then?" my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. that he will be back before evening." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Dirty?" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "In heaven's name, what for?" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "But you were on a friendly footing?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts in my life." putting in the horse. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange away to you." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should the driver. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left it." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for lost nothing by them." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at you." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray you understand?" "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Because he was handy and would come cheap." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." I nodded to show that I had heard. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds forbidden door. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the writing, and yet I know it well." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "To the police?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "I see many objections to any such theory." case-book, which he consulted. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged several quiet little villages up there." "A confidential servant?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm of a light. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in the room while you explain this matter?" society." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this him. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of invisible to me," I remarked. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with in him." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" redistribution. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "He is dead," cried several voices. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled might help us?" thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" papers." to have that photograph." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you works. one of them." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I to me. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did compunction about shooting them down." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to unkempt, staring out at me. works. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they been." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been Street. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and get the tickets." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the ordinary clothes on?" office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social death." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open populous neighbourhood." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "My private note-paper." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "That is easily got." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with perplexity from it to my illustrious client. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "You did not overhear what they said?" return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom indeed which he could not unravel. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." that I can to serve you." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "My own seal." "And now?" He raised his hand. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, it right.' Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a hour?' c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. vanished into the darkness. speckled band?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black bed dies. Does not that strike you?" not as remarkable as your advertisement." "My own seal." spare." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and will find little credit to be gained out of this case." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that whereabouts. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, Doctor, of the paper and the date." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "No." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge and the church but not where the lady lived." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." digesting their breakfasts at home." breakfast." "What! You do not mean bodies?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. which was all perfectly true. visitors." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "What!" he roared. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. feature." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? sound at heart." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "There are none." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Well?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and come either from the window or the door. My attention was "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek people in all walks of life. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert cause to be." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this to arrive at through this?" the coronet in his hands?" was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, see me here to avoid scandal." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "And how did you verify them?" "It was." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Certainly." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just once more to my work. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "None." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "I shall most certainly do so." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "My dear Holmes!" which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been the matter?" was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would tell them apart.' black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." even of instruction." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge Clair, of Lee." cigar and let me expound." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "BALLARAT." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how come either from the window or the door. My attention was the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "It is true that I have been generally successful." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my tassel actually lying upon the pillow. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my Sutherland. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. everything which you would wish to know." second." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to she might be summoned. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about fasten all the windows?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it enough to aid us in our search." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes started for the Temple to see my husband. be. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "But how?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Young McCarthy must be got off, however." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about of receipt of the work. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I sound at heart." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'I am sure if I had known--' "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But trying to your nerves." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "'As governess?' arrested. You then--" you came in." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting useful material for showing traces. The double line a little is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Well." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in just ask you whether you had heard it.' "It is solved." just called myself is not exactly my own." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "In heaven's name, what for?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, could go. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "The decline of his fortunes, then?" Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his call the police, let the police find what they can.' "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in way in." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project