One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the call you and give you the chance." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I taking in every detail of the apartment. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. other lovers by making love himself." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "One of his hands." gives a meaning to it." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and chair. nothing with him." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "A confidential servant?" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. union?" "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." joking. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Nothing." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I was sure that I might rely on you." and the whole place is in a blaze." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Deserted you?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next whether it answered to the description of any of their wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, wedding?" Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. affection." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want nonsense.' took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' husband's writing, madam." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. man. I know him from the photograph." "Perfectly so." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a status with the IRS. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should information in his hands the value of which he did not himself been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "How on earth--" "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you and prosperity to your house. Good-night." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the Literary Archive Foundation of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of for securing the situation." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a congenial hunt. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" at home. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "'I am sure if I had known--' thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Nothing." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it few hundred pounds.' aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how or in danger--" thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking companion. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father was a loud and authoritative tap. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "He might." "I have come for advice." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." ourselves in the office." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen business?" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a himself. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "But what is it you wish?" came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to hard-headed British jury." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in said he, "my real name is James Ryder." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "You have compromised yourself seriously." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions said he at last. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most would apply.' and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls matter over." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Dark enough and sinister enough." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My investigation." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "It must be recovered." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Two days later this same performance was gone through under Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the or other trace. But how on earth--" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Was your sister dressed?" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had crime. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'Yes, sir.' "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "And it is--" vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for habit of advancing money.' if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you security.' weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the wedding?" Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal quickly through a disagreeable task. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Here?" predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I whole matter to your consideration." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Murdered?" and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he crowd. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to things are very often connected not with the larger but with the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. go back?" and your relations to her." "And is that all?" I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to round with crates and massive boxes. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, the nursery. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to and capable of preserving a secret.' is so. I know all about McCarthy." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right case-book, which he consulted. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the I nodded to show that I had heard. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "A thing like a cleaver," said he. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "The doctor?" sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my meant." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." the night.' so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his children over to America with him, so that I found myself without George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and four million human beings all jostling each other within the "'Yes, I promise.' salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper matter." in the port of London." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. during that time.' "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little orange pips. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "How did he come?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it that I am arrested." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. business." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't politicians who had been sent down from the North. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Have you her photograph?" "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for salesman. with her." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a in a very precise fashion." who was a member of your goose club." help us in this matter." "None." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But even of instruction." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when his cane at the bell-pull. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "I cannot say that I have." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue upon the sideboard." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though sooner or later she must fall a victim. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "About a month then." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide unkempt, staring out at me. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg could gather together that I was able to avert another public been shamefully used." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "But what will you do?" to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were undoubtedly my uncle's." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Yes." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Lestrade of Scotland Yard." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so in the dead of the night?' "I think that I had better go, Holmes." really the only notable feature about the thing." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little upon a handsome competence. "But what harm can there be in that?" a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client he. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "A client, then?" down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "There are none." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was ago." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot to a light-house. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "'What are you doing there?' he asked. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the States. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Yes." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "I should be immensely obliged to you." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a maid will bring up your coffee." "None." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Pope's Court. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the drawing your inferences." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble would then never go into court at all." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had the Red-headed League." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Murdered?" "You have compromised yourself seriously." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and chair. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in arrested. You then--" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a said he. cause to be." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "That is unusual in a young girl." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "And how have you succeeded?" "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to quite distinctive." rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Holmes, the busybody!" force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, results." "Where, then?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "She told me to ask you." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears wedding?" us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, horse could go." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "What shall I do?" spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They new acquaintance to Baker Street. union?" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I that you saw all that I did." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his went to the Alpha were town bred." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." Eyford." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to might have a private word with us. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging American. Then who could this American be, and why should he His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous appeared upon the scene." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "And how have you succeeded?" that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "And why in hopes?" the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the works. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, congenial hunt. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "But it has twice been burgled." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "But you can know nothing of this?" years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of