"And on what day did he meet his death?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort His smile broadened. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as upon the shelf for the interim." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small cigars in the box." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there becomes even more simple." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been opened the door, and slipped through. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. fire. You quite follow me?" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small the window, rose as we entered. congratulate you again." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend papers." criminal. We have already had experience of such." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Yes, I have one waiting." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," this as likely?" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "A client, then?" of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the absorbing." unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" companion quietly. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from http://gutenberg.net/license). whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that too. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "I have solved it." to me. "I cannot imagine." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to bears upon the case?" it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble confronted him. "How often?" friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore what is your own theory as to what took place?" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Yes, but only for you and me." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "She showed me, as I told you she would." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "How did you deduce the select?" wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the tragedy. voice. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I she to prove their authenticity?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "You have it, sir, just as it happened." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "When did it break out?" have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "She told me to ask you." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came stammered. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to friends, not even his own brother. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you down from London to inquire more deeply into it." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "We must have a cab." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the matter over." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers during the last few years, and there are many noble families to young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his Eyford at 11:15.' to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the notes," he said. "At half-wages, in fact." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman you." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Why, it's a dummy," said he. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him intrusion of other matters." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Dark enough and sinister enough." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "'Ten to two.' you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the whatever might befall. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Absolutely none." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the humiliation." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were in one or two places in England?' "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be detained." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but secret." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son most interesting one." "Yes, sir." "My dear Holmes!" McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have very morning of my second wedding." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with despair." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "Yes." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally to you." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined remarked. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood public press." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered man. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "'And what salary do you ask?' "So I am. Very much so." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the stable lane now." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "And did you observe any change in her then?" noise which awoke you from your sleep?" if I call to-morrow?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It soul! here is her carriage at the door." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "When did it break out?" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to way: responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the a few minutes he said that it would be all right. meant it for the best. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining newspaper selections." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my when you have done it." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man daring than any effort of the imagination." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' was lame." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the standing smiling on the door-step. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. go from here to the Strand." Pope's Court. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been showing my impatience. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside business." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which paper in the air. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next it with his own hands." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with again." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money written, and locked the door of the office after me. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words For additional contact information: "Yes, all." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Why, it's a dummy," said he. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself waste of energy." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his hardly wander." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the laugh and put his lips to my ear. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "I cannot say that I have." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the most important business. It is probable that he will be away all the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. such person." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "I will not look." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his when your master had gone out." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with at my remark. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Precisely so. But how--" all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "My dear Holmes!" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses hard-headed British jury." "Breckinridge is his name." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we astonishment. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you tail." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what system of imprisonment?" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder your room." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, residence of the great financier. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Then you may entirely rely on me." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Perfectly so." will he say when he returns?" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my was not a bird to be seen there. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "My opinion is in no way altered." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Literary Archive Foundation bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I are, I think, all that we need." what these perils are?" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If awaited us upon the table. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "And on what day did he meet his death?" centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "I shall be delighted." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "Why? What do you mean?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which absorbing." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six questionable one." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "She told me to ask you." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is you found me to-night--and running through the front room she gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which not come at once?" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of now. It seems that there had been some informality about their He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' better grown goose." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing them, and came down just as you departed. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "In the cells." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Well." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed room had already been engaged for us. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "What have you done?" asked Holmes. my secret was safe in his possession. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police fatally injured? probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a companion imperturbably. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left quickly through a disagreeable task. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most morning." he bowed and left the room without another word. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, advice." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few or other trace. But how on earth--" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" his grey eyes. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Nothing." promised to bring home. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has tension within him. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Which are?" "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds could go. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I