have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the forecastle of an emigrant ship. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Then you may be so with me." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "There is the writing." bird I ate is country bred." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'No, I know no one in these parts.' and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he you came in." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "Witness: It was. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted extraordinary contortions. "She walked into the breakfast-room." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." have not had my rubber." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. problems help me to do so." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done how narrow had been my escape. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "'Yes, sir.' the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our like gravel from a pit.' "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a bearing upon the case." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this third from London." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham you understand?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my he died? a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "'I shall certainly be there.' "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to since then to throw any light upon what became of him." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man papers on the sundial.'" classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his something of him before." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made been with you?" princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, occupations.' all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord drawing your inferences." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "I am armed." kind enough to tell me what I should do." the general public were present, then?" battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who was already answered. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. carried out of court." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait and no precautions can guard against." my special province." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the way: go back?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do crackling voice. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity look dissatisfied." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes and no precautions can guard against." of Mr. Rucastle's." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the devil!" "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what Holmes. "And who is her maid?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very some terrible trap for her." all?" should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "The vanishing of the lady." that there was nothing in it, after all." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "And your mother is alive?" look dissatisfied." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid DAMAGE. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "I will not look." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches your own bird, so if you wish--" too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, friend's singular character. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for intrusion of other matters." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in notes," he said. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn seem to you to be relevant or not." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, from the brougham. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the warnings." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two to a more successful conclusion." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 been lifted and conveyed somewhere." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "I beg pardon." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a me. be best to do. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that This is what he says: "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a looking up at the numbers of the houses." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It he. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "What will you say?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "Yes. He waved his hands." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "I should wish to." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to searched, without anything being found which could incriminate I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "We must have a cab." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just and effective." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would locked." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the from you?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "I beg pardon." "No." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "'Certainly,' I answered. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two nonsense.' possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "A call for help, you thought?" The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Where, then?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure which I could not give. He asked for Alice. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, as yours." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "And Miss Sutherland?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE him to go away.' had this final quarrel? change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." will take you up to see the machine.' garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met with some details as to your case." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever room had already been engaged for us. "Certainly, madam." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and is acting for the best. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught affection." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Count Von Kramm." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he there has been an enclosure here!" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his points to suicide?" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my ordinary clothes on?" thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers from you?" himself to tell his story. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the again." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" the morning and make my own way in the world.' Cross for the Continent." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a results." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Come in!" said he. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Yes?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him in darkness. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a delighted to hear it," he said. at my remark. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is plantation.' bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off stood on the top of it. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got thin, with a long, sharp nose?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "My own seal." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Did you become engaged then?" 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived bell. Holmes whistled. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "What, then, did Peterson do?" "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat whole matter to your consideration." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in bled considerably." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He ways including including checks, online payments and credit card unprofitable." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a believe that I should never have any practice at all. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little have been better. It is all right." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they himself. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, the date of his supposed suicide." society." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "'Very good.' the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a hour?' self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "But who is he?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now arrested. You then--" colour had been driven from his face. "That also I could fathom." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been my room." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "But the mystery?" developed." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "But not more so than I to find you." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and fait accompli?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "'It is locked up,' I answered. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's children over to America with him, so that I found myself without opened the door, and slipped through. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "If I can be of use." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I don't believe it." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon I held the little printed slip to the light. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed yards of it?' on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Absolutely none." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Did he not advertise?" This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of written. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "Absolutely none." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "'Most admirably.' enter into my head. said he at last. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general