sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Dr. Becher's." must compliment you." "But who is he?" "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "I have seen the police." envelope. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Could he throw no light?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold appointment with me for six o'clock?" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole hair?' "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "How many? I don't know." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and points in connection with it which never have been, and probably Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled a suggestive one." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, he. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, and have this put in the evening papers." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "I have a cab outside." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "I will do it." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one searched, without anything being found which could incriminate had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will of a light. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the this remarkable episode. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "I saw her in conversation with her maid." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her most interesting one." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from affection." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "It must be recovered." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of own family. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Young McCarthy must be got off, however." think, you have already met." unclasping of his long thin hands. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly confronted him. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "It looks newer than the other things?" "No sign of it?" rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "I came to find a friend." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has McCarthy's innocence. "I cannot tell." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the followed. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "I am armed." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every enter into my head. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "I cannot imagine." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about seen the man in the road." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not attention." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "Witness: Nothing definite. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you Eyford at 11:15.' see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all your only hope of safety." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally returned to France?" back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "Why did you pick him?" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, peculiar to him. them?" "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to shaken than I had ever seen him. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Chief Executive and Director myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of used to be." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. telegram would bring me down to your help." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his his grey eyes. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "I cannot think." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "No, thank goodness, she did not." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing writing, and yet I know it well." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one God! What an exposure! What can I do?" again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and the south-west, I see." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand companion quietly. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Come in!" said Holmes. girl said." ran thus: back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in to Leatherhead. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom with some details as to your case." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I weighed down with some great anxiety. tell them apart.' door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each keep the flames under. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they four million human beings all jostling each other within the Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid the salesman. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat astonishment. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a have not had my rubber." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth photograph a cabinet?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "But what is it you wish?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is upon the white wrist. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "Yes, sir." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view what I may call a really hard day's work." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "I beg pardon." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become legal crime." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend bed dies. Does not that strike you?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "It was an hour's good drive." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "'And the work?' "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. electronic works exactly what you advise." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some voice, changing her seat as requested. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were think that any burglar could have done. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. photograph?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg States. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "What will you do, then?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. His name is Francis Prosper." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." indeed happy." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Ah!" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down acted in my house last night?" its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. round and wave him away like that.' the child." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had more solid." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was delighted to hear it," he said. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." security.' "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a way: "Where did you address your letters, then?" think that he is innocent?" thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features it with his own hands." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We Henry Baker is a member." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. easy-going way." "What will you do, then?" My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, more solid." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and with some details as to your case." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "'What, the red-headed man?' "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he he. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Very truly yours, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it when you have done it." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the best detective that ever lived. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become colonel looking down at me. "So it appears." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always hand, madam?" have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he directors have had misgivings upon the subject." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added that I can to serve you." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what forecastle of an emigrant ship. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was burst out into a roar of laughter. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the in the dead of the night?' "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "You know me, then?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is locked. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Nothing." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "The King of Scandinavia." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "You forget that I know nothing about it." you?" suspect him." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "But you have hopes?" "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and how narrow had been my escape. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End few hundred pounds.' "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Then he might have called to you?" The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. of a light. "Breckinridge is his name." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "And how?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or province." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" mysterious business." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "My opinion is in no way altered." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "The landlord of the Alpha." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight for and were ordered to this address. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" His name is Francis Prosper." "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down considering the formidable letters which were received by himself existence." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of notes," he said. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought