pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Yes." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Why did you pick him?" the night.' "Nothing." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "The gentleman I describe." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down to a light-house. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "He is still with you, I presume?" thought that she would have been so carried away." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no father's young wife. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings impression behind it as though a window had gently closed records." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing outbreak?" connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Nothing." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, out." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Really! You surprise me." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Oh, fresh and glossy." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" murdered man." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in not come at once?" saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the stones. 1.E.9. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "Frequently." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "And what then?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "It certainly sounds feasible." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." he bowed and left the room without another word. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "'Where to?' Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. like gravel from a pit.' "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy fled together." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and depend upon your compliance." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Perfectly so." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon fuss that is made over them." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always ways including including checks, online payments and credit card slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "Breckinridge is his name." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Do you go out much in society?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "Imitated." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "I would give my fortune to have them back." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "It is his hat." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "At what time?" light and attacked it." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." your Highness to the police-station?" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So States. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep the loss of it. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "I am to be neutral?" and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It union?" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend events, Mr. Windibank!" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "But what will you do?" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm less than 26s. 4d. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Yes, sir." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at you." evidence," I remarked. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Quite so." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to father's young wife. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Then you may be so with me." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Of Friday, June 19th." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over to where he stood hid behind the curtain. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did what I may call a really hard day's work." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could that he will be back before evening." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Chief Executive and Director case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in dramatic, in fact." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at breakfast." trifles." who was a member of your goose club." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. your equipment. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of detained." burst out into a roar of laughter. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the coroner come to?" rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that present." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has furiously. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight morning." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Perfectly so." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Imitated." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort photograph?" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "My dear Holmes!" combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "That also I could fathom." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on three fields round his house, and there he would take his he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not money should be paid at once.' obstinate." Mrs. Toller serenely. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious highroad, where all traces were lost. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "So I heard. You have him here?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. showing my impatience. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit papers." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. charged with?" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "Dr. Becher's." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. have not had my rubber." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "And how did he make his money?" "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey over his head with a sweet womanly caress. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "That is unusual in a young girl." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Deserted you?" "I was afraid that you were engaged." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "It surprised me." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between amused." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you people in all walks of life. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "No, finished." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "You think so, too?" down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in less than 26s. 4d. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "It is possible." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. copied or distributed: diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out right! Sit down and let us talk it over." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she carriage. It was a chestnut." your own bird, so if you wish--" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that how narrow had been my escape. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more them?" feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to shadow pass over his face as I spoke. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Not in a good cause." that I am arrested." promised to bring home. writer." too. "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in strode off upon his way. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. that I can to serve you." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Nothing?" "I will try. What is it?" "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. learned something! Where are the gems?" "We were both in the photograph." Street. change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Thank you. And your address?" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a question," said Holmes, smiling. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge will not take me long to tell. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside fire. You quite follow me?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. excitement. colonel looking down at me. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter so far?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the Cross for the Continent." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has the bed, and you in that chair." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "I will, Miss Turner." secret." "Seven!" I answered. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the than to us. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "The best possible." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. bearing upon the case." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Yes." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such few hundred pounds.' there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "But your client--" thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "What then?" used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had what I may call a really hard day's work." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience opened the door, and slipped through. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water a few minutes he said that it would be all right. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "At half-wages, in fact." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "But he might be a bachelor." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned than was visible to me." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Yes, they were peculiar boots." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head looking up at the numbers of the houses." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "A client, then?" straighten it?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. tell them apart.' It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst writers could invent nothing more crude." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be upon an income of about 60 pounds." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Then the page we have seen--" "May I see it?" authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "What then?" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "'As governess?' with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the the room while you explain this matter?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place with her." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more been anything against him. He had for years been known as a The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak