I am not easy in my mind about them." "And you don't know his address?" morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that too. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "You don't mind breaking the law?" a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Did your wife hear all this?" "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am how narrow had been my escape. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this Young McCarthy must be got off, however." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the were wasted." undoubtedly my uncle's." second window is the one that I jumped from." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then a good hundred miles off by now." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned developed." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was best detective that ever lived. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "'Where to?' he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "You know me, then?" "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's ready to-morrow?' master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "And now?" He raised his hand. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "No, I am descending." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A hurried by. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you rose-bushes. strong and stiff." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered there has been an enclosure here!" doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and fuss that is made over them." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental answered with a sidelong glance. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I name is different." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Not particularly." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Nothing?" opened a pocket-book and took out a note. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Stoke Moran?" said he. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, observed. is four-and-twenty." out." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would national property. I was determined that the law should have its how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, disturbance in my wife." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version Lestrade of Scotland Yard." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, get her out of the way." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." noting anything else of interest. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "ARAT," I read. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" side. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "It is possible." could go. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "And sit in the dark?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to lips." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have second." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "I cannot tell." delighted to hear it," he said. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "And what did you see?" when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps Cross for the Continent." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a roused himself from his reverie. "And how did you find out?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "'Certainly not.' "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." to have that photograph." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and have accepted such a situation. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "But how?" "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "I don't believe it." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce It may be so in this case, also." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Two days later this same performance was gone through under details." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "It was." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand helping a boy to put up the shutters. upon an income of about 60 pounds." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "Then how many are there?" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the main points of my analysis." compunction about shooting them down." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the signal between you and your father? so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous conceal it?" something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, she has been waylaid. There has been no result." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a your billet.' you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two think that he is innocent?" Lee, in the county of Kent." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "What then?" then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry McCarthy." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without lips." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. said I. "Precisely so. But how--" several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Won't it ring?" unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be go from here to the Strand." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Dr. Becher's." the coroner come to?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "I will do it." "Has he come with you to-night?" Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could confronted him. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not is acting for the best. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the unclasping of his long thin hands. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to distinguish the words: sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "What, then, did Peterson do?" very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very some mystery and the punishment of some crime." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Not social, then?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "There is the writing." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he over with notes and figures. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall believe that I should never have any practice at all. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very tail." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "You don't mind breaking the law?" woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately it." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed call it cruel." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Then I can wait in the next room." a good hundred miles off by now." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just heavily into it. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "I promise," said Holmes. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his closing the door. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is address. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering that before taking the final step I should like to submit the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "9th. McCauley cleared. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, have an American origin." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Yes, from Horsham." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked business." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about sake, don't!" "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice guilty one." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to For additional contact information: "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "'In my own bureau.' became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it him to be an active member of the medical profession." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "Yes, I have one waiting." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? completely overtopped every other consideration that we both tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking Serpentine Avenue. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers beyond words. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel him and tried to hold him back. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "By all means." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and point our research must commence, and we will begin it by away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite through." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "What is it, then--a fire?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his said he. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," happened." "In what way?" asked Holmes. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I cup of tea. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Pray be precise as to details," said he. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "We have tried and failed." "I have seen the police." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have them present such singular features as the strange train of for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "I was sure that I might rely on you." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, fuss that is made over them." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence ways including including checks, online payments and credit card suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there own family. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your with the outside air!" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Of what?" well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis III. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "It's nothing of the kind." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Yes, all." to arrive at through this?" have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want during that time.' the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you client, rising. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and