sit on the left-hand side of the driver." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "They are typewritten," I remarked. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid whole matter to your consideration." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "That is unusual in a young girl." green of the new foliage. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait I held the little printed slip to the light. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, seem to you to be relevant or not." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning man. I know him from the photograph." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "'Entirely.' sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "What shall I do?" over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as official police." "It is true that I have been generally successful." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable taking in every detail of the apartment. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch said I. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." of the way of danger. father's young wife. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. to affect your life." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded The events in question occurred in the early days of my "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" the best of training." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Chief Executive and Director of the vacancies.' down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting said he. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "That also I could fathom." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat have not had my rubber." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "'Where could I find him?' butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very during that time.' the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "What I expected to see." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce vague figure huddled up in the darkness. village inn over there?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "But she could not love him." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez Pope's Court, Fleet Street." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler out." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "You are certainly joking, Holmes." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Because he was handy and would come cheap." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "My dear Holmes!" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "I cannot tell." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be seen the man in the road." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I gentleman's clothes. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, and looked back. made his money." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Then I am your man." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "'Ten to two.' one or two very singular points about this room. For example, right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. leave you to your papers for a little." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "A call for help, you thought?" at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." maiden herself was most instructive." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa him!" notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I III. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is strength of mind to control. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are of the one which your family is now devouring." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Have you it here?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Perhaps I have." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "My photograph." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "But what will you do?" from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of unprofitable." never to learn it at all." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel to me. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "It is his hat." "And the murderer?" was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "'Certainly,' I answered. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and shoulder; "he's all right." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "What can it mean?" I gasped. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door this poor creature." row." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "It's nothing of the kind." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'What would be the hours?' I asked. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and IS "It is possible." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A ready to-morrow?' used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Stolen." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "I warn you that they are very incomplete." his face. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the night.' who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." friend's singular character. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very in a very precise fashion." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was what these perils are?" we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." of his shoulders. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "I was mad--insane." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange prisoner's face. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." room?" "That you are never beaten." we went to search for him, face downward in a little look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. ourselves in the office." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going and files of the old papers, following the future career of every pressing in one house as in another. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of cup of tea. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that words came to my lips. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad all?" be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place anything to do with the matter?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "But your client--" cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a away into the river." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "No sign of it?" "Entirely." be best to do. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the loss of it. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, it." believe that I should never have any practice at all. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "'Why that?' I asks. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "To the police?" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "I know where it is." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Really! You surprise me." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every me. You must get home instantly and act." disappearance of these gems?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Not I." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first case-book, which he consulted. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled seem to you to be relevant or not." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his article?" fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to easy-going way." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, second." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "One of the highest in England." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "How can you tell that?" "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "'I have heard so.' the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "It looks newer than the other things?" and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "No legal papers or certificates?" "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "I was sure that I might rely on you." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely the nursery. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "And how did he make his money?" "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his tell him that I know him to be innocent." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was