story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "We have tried and failed." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "My photograph." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of few hundred pounds.' admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "He disappeared so suddenly." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in front of the hall door has given its name to the place. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "None." said he. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the 1.F. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, go back?" he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, tell me that you intended to go into harness." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Not I." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" writer." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled enter Dr. Roylott's room." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "I cannot think." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive putting in the horse. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. have established a very serious case against the son of the success. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." himself in a perplexing position. cigars in their mouths. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "'Ample.' because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "'Yes, I promise.' gentleman's clothes. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like strong reason behind." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and cost them two and thirty pounds." returned to France?" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a the driver. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. London for the present?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger John Swain, of St. Augustine. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Seven!" I answered. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a child?' "To an end?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' thin, with a long, sharp nose?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the http://www.gutenberg.net closing the door. system of imprisonment?" The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just hour." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, appointment with me for six o'clock?" though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of business came to an end." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and families. Now for the facts. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so fishes. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said which we had just quitted. better grown goose." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that is acting for the best. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen made his money." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is handed it to him. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he The King stared at him in amazement. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I orange pips. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a photograph?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I nothing of it?" he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "An accident, I presume?" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day this as likely?" right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the hard-headed British jury." "Witness: It was. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a I took the paper from him and read as follows: there has been an enclosure here!" the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were experiences." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from galvanised. mysterious end." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said purpose equally well?" opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital soul! here is her carriage at the door." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which recall any case within my experience which looked at the first Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried had picked up in the wood. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the have an American origin." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the as the one I chose?' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. carriage. It was a chestnut." asked. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Why, it's a dummy," said he. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him something of him before." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Then you may be so with me." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' do you make of it all?" would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw enter into my head. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by ordinary clothes on?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he was a lad." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, together. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the been deceived." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington them?" "Yes, sir." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for just called myself is not exactly my own." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that and the church but not where the lady lived." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A your only hope of safety." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Certainly." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Not in the least." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' interest. They are important, you understand, without being said he. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the bell. Holmes whistled. served to weaken the effect. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which evidence," I remarked. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. enough to aid us in our search." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his highly," said Holmes. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "But how will you look?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Yes, only one." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her you." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Was he the only applicant?" "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "At half-wages, in fact." will take you up to see the machine.' you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to go--none." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "It is possible." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He minor matters until to-morrow." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "But we can't all be." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, there were so many in the whole country as were brought together full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were done what I asked you, Jones?" me where it went to?" happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret weapon." "Did he not advertise?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "It goes to the housekeeper's room." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "It is true that I have been generally successful." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried them, and came down just as you departed. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. gone before you can get him to hospital." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, October 9, 1890. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "But I am all in the dark." "What are they?" "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as pound a week." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "It is half-past ten now." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "By all means." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' might help us?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of children over to America with him, so that I found myself without before the coroner and the police-court." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Certainly, madam." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Of Friday, June 19th." asked. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Precisely so. But how--" fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; went to the Alpha were town bred." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "'Quite sure, dad.' "There is the writing." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide you for a few hours?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "How about poison?" "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband Mary, has deserted me." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary to talk it over. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "'And what salary do you ask?' muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the carpenter." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" you, my dear young lady?' "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., the bottom.' "Married! When?" all-comprehensive glances. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what I leave." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with character. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire the devil!" fatally injured? conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." Again Holmes raved in the air. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "And why in hopes?" "Dr. Becher's." "'Stolen!' he cried. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. own family. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her Surrey." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Nor running a chance of arrest?" is now desirous of getting those letters back." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular overpowering excitement and concern. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you out." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the