told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done could not have written that. It is the German who is so Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." unclasping of his long thin hands. "In San Francisco, a year ago." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Yes." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "I will, Miss Turner." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, ready to-morrow?' hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." answer." you." know all about it," he snarled. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and of Mr. Rucastle's." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business your Highness to the police-station?" explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "She walked into the breakfast-room." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent sit on the left-hand side of the driver." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these straighten it?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will imbecility!" he cried. should be taken.' "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." noble correspondent could be. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which strength in the others." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. be best to do. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." My friend smiled. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more residence of the great financier. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "That also I could fathom." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." tear off another piece?' all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You better in every way that they should make their position a little both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the is acting for the best. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who one or two very singular points about this room. For example, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of outbreak?" both be extremely obliged.' first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There the dangers which encompass me." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of of the way of danger. have I gained?" "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper in the dead of the night?' nothing with him." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "No legal papers or certificates?" that I can to serve you." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming Count Von Kramm." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to you, my dear young lady?' lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE stepfather?" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and matter." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Breckinridge is his name." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you behind me. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be becomes even more simple." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you murdered man." to miss it." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "So it appears." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned you." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of I shall communicate with you." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between that you can jump it.' fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Bought." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can once more. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "So it appears." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. make me his representative both with the servants and with the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "No, I am descending." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. will be renamed. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you cigar and let me expound." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital such attractions and accomplishments?' He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "That is also quite modern," said the lady. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. The King stared at him in amazement. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the your only hope of safety." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." something of him before." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Young McCarthy must be got off, however." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "It is to him that this trophy belongs." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls I nodded to show that I had heard. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "I know where it is." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in were wasted." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you such attractions and accomplishments?' are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee furiously. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Ah!" "No, I think that I'll take it." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "But your client--" about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all cigar and let me expound." with her." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "'What do you call purely nominal?' the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. was not a bird to be seen there. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was or in danger--" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a I shall communicate with you." "And help." "Absolutely none." the coronet in his hand?" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would Edgeware Road. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, very morning of my second wedding." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Quite so. She has her freedom." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "'What, the red-headed man?' nothing with him." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "I am following you closely," I answered. and wait." may have an influence upon European history." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the whereabouts. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small your co-operation." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Really! You surprise me." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "What! a murderous attack?" be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "No." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, my special province." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's and laid it on the table. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "He disappeared so suddenly." discontent upon his features. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled strength." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "No, my brougham is waiting." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. again before evening." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary night.' said he. "Has he come with you to-night?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening that you can jump it.' works. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "No good news?" "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "He is dead," cried several voices. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, certainly do as you advise." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may his wife has ceased to love him." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "No, my brougham is waiting." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Where, then?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so tightly behind him. already been minutely examined." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same fasten all the windows?" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had the dangers which encompass me." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the for its centre. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "It is very kind of you." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who money should be paid at once.' therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "You'll never persuade me to believe that." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the kindly on the shoulder. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him down from London to inquire more deeply into it." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Upon what point?" the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must whatever might befall. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "No, distinctly professional." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "She walked into the breakfast-room." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found matter." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is awaited us upon the table. eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I had formerly been in part my own. points to suicide?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "That is not always so easy." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "There are none." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might will take you up to see the machine.' an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could not use it unless it is absolutely needed." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "That is easily got." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see tell him that I know him to be innocent." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train.