front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties voice, changing her seat as requested. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Has he come with you to-night?" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "And what then?" who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the III. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "That is easily got." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "I am to be neutral?" wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are meant it for the best. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could his wife has ceased to love him." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "What, then, did Peterson do?" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there his face which made him a very different person to the round, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Then, as to money?" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Cross for the Continent." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "In which, sir?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "What can it mean?" I gasped. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible closely." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "So it appears." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin writing, and yet I know it well." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. night.' said he. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his see a sister of mine apply for." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, think you a quite exceptional woman." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Yes." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough that you can jump it.' like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a guilty parties." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler there." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the that you wished to speak to me?' not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "But he might be a bachelor." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful hair?' "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, do you make of it all?" Street. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Murdered?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "I beg pardon." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "And what did you see?" "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "I am about to be married." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have the running down." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "Well, some hundreds of times." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these the coronet at all injured?" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I fattened it expressly for you.' "I will get her to show me." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his must be when I saw the door open.' "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "'Then let me do so?' general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in my friend's incisive reasoning. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that events than those which have happened in my own family." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "But the mystery?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "My opinion is in no way altered." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, is a common subject for conversation. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "How did you deduce the select?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing Young McCarthy must be got off, however." returned to France?" indeed which he could not unravel. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each cigars in the box." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. joking. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle some place of shelter and let the county police know what has object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "He said that you could solve anything." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "May I see it?" violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her carried out of court." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the away to you." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the This is what he says: all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." green of the new foliage. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No bad?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying less than 26s. 4d. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' again, where I was soon asleep. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "I think that it is very probable." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "The vanishing of the lady." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Nearly eleven." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is taking in every detail of the apartment. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical might help us?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to before the coroner and the police-court." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the may have an influence upon European history." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence returning from some small jollification and was making his way sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "That is unusual in a young girl." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "What have you done?" asked Holmes. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the investigation." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud shoulder. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. http://gutenberg.net/license). Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, girl said." relief. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I used to be." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the through." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I maiden herself was most instructive." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards politicians who had been sent down from the North. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their recall any case within my experience which looked at the first have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I the King without delay." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a colonel looking down at me. recover the gem." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, which we had just quitted. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He without a word or a look. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" national property. I was determined that the law should have its to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my humiliation." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. depend upon my doing so.' John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Not him." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' I. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of tassel actually lying upon the pillow. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Oh, fresh and glossy." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some derbies." I. lamp. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the weapon." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, problems help me to do so." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "'Where to?' devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be the coroner come to?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her important." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of as noiselessly as she had come. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not to tackle the facts." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried forecastle of an emigrant ship. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. when you have done it." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "You think that he is dead?" of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. distinguish the words: And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." closing the door. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. enough to aid us in our search." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "A confidential servant?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes strong reason behind." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "You forget that I know nothing about it." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "And leave your case unfinished?" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "'I have heard so.' went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin call for it in person on Monday morning.' look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be one's self under obligations.' behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here it means?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had his fortune, and I went back to pa. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of works. See paragraph 1.E below. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND three of the beryls in it, was missing. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I before, for it was considerably after midnight. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Oh, fresh and glossy." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as easy-going way." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "My photograph." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "No bad?" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper second." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to little adventures." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at really the only notable feature about the thing." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to go back?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a